What is carehome.co.uk’s approach to negative reviews?

Our objective is to publish as many genuine reviews as possible, both positive and negative, in order to help the care seeker find the right care home.

We believe that this objective is in line with care homes' and care regulatory authorities' values of being open and transparent. Also, the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) has stated that review websites may be breaking consumer law if they do not publish negative reviews.

We understand that reviews on care often deal with serious, complex issues and can be highly emotive. Therefore, we have put in place a robust moderation process that is both fair to the reviewer and the care provider:

• we verify all negative reviews before publication to ensure that they are genuine (eg not ex member of staff/competitor)
• we have a dedicated review compliance team, which includes a specialist care sector lawyer
• we do not allow anonymous reviews
• we do not publish defamatory reviews
• we do not publish reviews before the care home has had an opportunity to reply

We understand it is really hard receiving a negative review, especially as care homes work so hard and are passionate about caring for their residents/clients, but it is only natural that care homes will receive some negative feedback and no one expects a care home to receive 100% positive feedback. 

You may disagree with the feedback and wish for the review not to be published, in particular given that care home reviews can be highly emotive. However, in line with all review websites, we take a neutral stance in factual disputes between care providers and reviewers as there is no reliable way to discern who's right about a particular experience. If a care provider disagrees with the reviewer over the experience, we recommend that the care provider writes a reply to the review sharing their version of events so that website users can see both perspectives.

We believe a good response can help turn a negative into a positive, showing that you listen to your clients and how much you care. A negative review with a good response can lend more authenticity and credibility to your other reviews.

We recommend that you respond to negative reviews in a polite, positive and professional way, and that you make your reply relevant and personal.  Good responses often say thank you, address the specific issues, highlight any positives, apologise, sympathise and take responsibility.

Guidance for creating a positive response to a negative review. 

We provide you with the opportunity to write a response to a review before the review goes live (most review websites publish the review first), so you can always reply in a timely manner and care seekers will always see both perspectives.